News.com.au was on the ground in Japan, investigation the recovery process one year on from the earthquake and tsunami that devasted the region. On our Facebook page, we asked what specific questions you wanted answered.

News.com.au asked the Facebook fans what they wanted to know about Japan's recovery.Source: news.com.au

Within minutes, you responded. Concerns for farmers, schools and pets were common. A recurring theme developed - how were the people - not the government, the economy or the infrastructure - coping? Below you can see the questions asked, and the answers we found for you.

Answer: The 300,000 people who were in evacuation centres have all moved to either rented accommodation or temporary housing. The picture above shows the communal area of one of these centres in Natori.

There are three temporary housing centres in Natori, made up of half a dozen or so long, demountable-style blocks. In each one there is a communal area and ten compartments where people – often entire families - live.

Transport is improving. Trains and buses are running, but many stations and sections of track were washed away. All road tolls in the Tohoku region have been waived for the time being to allow free travel.

This suburb in Ishinomaki was almost completely wiped out by the tsunami. Picture: Helen DavidsonSource: news.com.au

Answer: Most places news.com.au visited are still in the process of cleaning. There’s very little rebuilding happening just yet. Some places – like areas near the major city of Sendai – are further along because of the easier access. Local residents said there were towns further north that are virtually unchanged from 12 months ago.

The disaster generated 15.69 million tonnes of debris in Miyagi alone. According to Japan’s Environment Ministry, that is the equivalent of nearly two decades worth of rubbish. Less than half of it has been shifted.

A Sendai City school lies abandoned after the tsunami destroyed the building. Picture: Helen DavidsonSource: news.com.au

Answer: Because the tsunami hit when children were at school, many who survived became orphans. 236 children from the three prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima lost both parents. Almost all were placed in foster care or with relatives. Just three children had to go to a group home, according to local media in September.

Some school communities did not fare so well. An elementary school in Ishinomaki lost 74 students and ten teachers.

Australian expat Professor John Morris and his wife Machiko have worked extensively with counselling/psychology programs in the area - particularly with school children. To simplify what they do, the program focuses on 'making school a happy place to be'. As a result, the rate of children who refuse to go to school is lower than before the disaster. Read more about the project in this Q&A with Professor Morris.

A MIyagi resident, Ms Onodera is reunited with her dog Ban - who was rescued from drifting ocean debris - more than three weeks after the tsunami. Picture: APSource: news.com.au

Answer: When people escaped the tsunami, many pets were left behind in the chaos. In December the government allowed animal welfare groups to enter the evacuation zones to rescue any pets that had survived, before winter took hold and claimed more of them.

Within the Fukushima exclusion zone, livestock is now commercially worthless. In May, then prime minister Naoto Kan ruled the government would euthanise them, but a small group of farmers have ignored evacuation rulings and re-enter regularly to feed their remaining cattle.

Because of salt water in the soil, many farmers are now growing their food in greenhouses. Picture: Helen DavidsonSource: news.com.au

Answer: There are no rice crops left on the Sendai plains for three kilometres inland. Farms and crops were washed away, and can’t be replanted due to the salt levels in the soil.

James Goff, Professor of Natural Hazards at the University of New South Wales, told news.com.au that it will be at least a year before the land is viable again.

“There will be a continuing program of trying to flush out the salt, but this is an incredibly expensive and time consuming operation,” he said.

Local Miyagi residents said the area was trialling new systems of greenhouse farming cooperatives in the meantime, allowing farmers to continue working in some form.

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Comments on this story

Mandy Nicholson of Yokohama, Japan Posted at 4:57 PM March 09, 2012

Please do some more research on the actual situation on the ground of the remaining animals both farm animals and the hundreds of domestic pets who have been left to fend for themselves for the last 12 months. The government permits to animal rescue groups in December were so limited and restrictive that many, MANY beloved pets and their many offspring remain desperately trying to find food and waiting to go home.

Amanda of Melbourne Posted at 4:25 PM March 09, 2012

I really dont know why we are goijng ahead with our desal plant to irrigate our own deserts and so..growing staples crops out west for the worlds starving or disaplaced peoples...in times of disaster such as this..it would be brilliant to be able to say ' here..we can feed you..you just focus on recovery and getting well"...sighs. We need more comon sense compassion. This photoessay and attached pages are the best news story to come out of News.com.au in two years of reading.. ..thanks guys and well done.

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